


Bigger 'n Texas

by kakaiescheck



Series: About That Accent [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nico Feels, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace Fluff, Three Days in the Infirmary (Percy Jackson), Will's Texan Accent, and beyond, yes I went there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27217360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kakaiescheck/pseuds/kakaiescheck
Summary: The accent. The accent was his problem. Well, it wasn’t his only problem. There were a lot of other things that drew Nico to the son of Apollo, to the point of him actually considering if he returned his feelings. All he knew was that he was going crazy and one of them would have to speak soon.."'I’ll be back real quick with lunch,' Will told him. 'Don’t go anywhere. Unless I’m not back in twenty minutes, then you can hunt down my siblings until you find the culprit,' he winked.Nico told the skeletal butterflies in his stomach to quiet down and managed to keep a smile on his face until the door closed behind Will. Then he smacked himself in the forehead for being so stupid stupid stupid, again. First, get a crush on the live version of his childhood game hero. Then get a crush on the caring healer who was nursing him back to life. What was his problem?"
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: About That Accent [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1987474
Comments: 37
Kudos: 332





	Bigger 'n Texas

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings, y'all, look at the monster I created! It was supposed to be a companion piece to my analysis of Percy's accent (Like a New Yorker, if you wanna check it out *wink wink*), this time with Will, but it became a Solangelo get-together story 16K+ extravaganza.
> 
> I didn't manage to put all the Texanisms I wanted in this (all y'all), but I fit a lot. Now go on down yonder and enjoy it!

For what felt like hours, Nico stood next to the onager, watching as giant eagles plucked Piper and Jason from the sky, somehow not getting hit by the explosion of storm and fire. Members of both camps, after overcoming the shock, finished killing the last monsters easily and were now sort of… lost in the middle of the post-battle mess.

“Well,” Will said next to him, startling Nico, “that was somethin’.”

Nico barely heard him, only registering how the son of Apollo had pretty much mumbled the word, making it sound more like _sum-mm_ than an actual word. Next thing he knew, Will took off toward a screaming girl who was covered in a lot of blood, thus leaving Nico alone.

It took him a while to shake it off and get moving. There were a lot of injuries, and children of Apollo – from both camps – were rushing back and forth to… triage, Nico guessed? And then care for the most urgent cases. He heard Jake Mason yelling for his siblings and looked over to find him next to Hazel, who was rubbing her hands nervously. Nico headed there.

“We’re organizing search parties,” his sister explained. “For Leo.”

Nico frowned. “But–”

“They have to,” she cut him off, sending him a meaningful but teary look.

Nico knew what she meant. He had sensed Leo’s death, and he guessed she had too. If he wasn’t so emotionally drained, he would probably be inclined to cry as well for the sacrifice. Still, he knew that the Hephaestus cabin wouldn’t take that for an answer. They had to search for themselves.

He turned his gaze away from Hazel and looked over the field. A loud yell caught his attention, to the left, where two mops of blonde hair were gathered next to a Roman legionnaire. One of the heads turned in Nico’s direction.

When Will met his eyes, he opened his mouth to say something. Nico immediately broke the eye contact and looked around for where he might be useful.

At some point, Chiron managed to assemble an emergency council meeting on the porch of the Big House. Nico kept to the corner, watching as demigods gathered and twirling his skull ring.

“– ain’t keepin’ me here, Rachel. The infirmary’s as busy as all get-out and I _need_ to–”

“Two minutes, c’mon, Chiron’s asking.”

Will shook off Rachel’s hands from his arm, huffing impatiently, but he leaned against the railing and stayed. His arms were crossed over his black T-shirt and the stripes he’d painted on his face had smudged, making it look like he had been rolling in the dirt. His dark jeans were stained with blood around his knees, as well as his hands. His hair was still as golden as ever.

Nico shook his head and focused on the meeting. It didn’t help that the first order of business involved the one Will Solace.

“I won’t keep you,” Chiron reassured him. “I know how Kayla gets when left to her own devices there. We need to know your first assessment and what help you need.”

Still radiating impatience, although looking somewhat put-together, Will stood up straight and said, “It’s bad. We got the worst ones in the infirmary already, but there’s a lot to do. Someone needs to go down to the cabin and get all our extra supplies and it’d be best to get some _extra_ extra from the pharmacy ten minutes away.”

“I’m sorry we didn’t bring much of _our_ supplies,” Reyna spoke up. “They would be useful.”

“Do we have enough for the worst cases?” Chiron asked.

Will scrunched up his forehead. “Yeah, I mean… I checked our stock a million times this past week, made sure ever’thin’ was there. I might could get around with what we have for now, but Imma need more soon.”

 _Might could_.

That echoed in Nico’s head. He had never heard anyone say that. He became so fixated on those two words that he missed a chunk of the conversation.

“– Butch will help bring everything over,” Chiron was talking. “In the meantime, Connor, does Travis still have the van key he stole last winter?”

Connor’s eyes lit up. “You’re gonna let us go to the pharmacy?”

“Naturally, no. Give the key to Malcolm – he can go with Will and write down what we need. Will, I’ll go help you as soon as I’m finished here.”

“Yes, sir,” Will said.

Annabeth touched the centaur’s arm. “You should go, they need help. We can take it from here.”

“Yes,” Will agreed. “Actually, we could use help from anyone who’s not needed elsewhere.” Nico thought his blue eyes flickered in his direction a couple of times as he said that, but obviously it didn’t mean anything. It was probably just the exhaustion speaking.

After a bit of discussion, Lou Ellen and Rachel left with Will, along with Malcolm and Chiron. Nico did _not_ watch them leave. And Nico most certainly did not do like the other head counselors, who all looked over to Annabeth and Percy expectantly, waiting for orders. He didn’t really remember what he did, only that the words _might could_ were still echoing in his head.

* * *

“Wait. So you mean–”

“Right. But it’s cool. We’re cool. I mean, I see now… you’re cute, but you’re not my type.”

“I’m not your type… Wait. So–”

“See you around, Percy. Annabeth.”

Nico obliged to Annabeth’s high-five and left them to go back to the Apollo cabin, where Will was waiting. As he got closer, Will crossed his arms over his green surgeon’s shirt, his blue eyes studying Percy and Annabeth. Nico threw a look over his shoulder and saw Jason approaching the couple, which was just as well, since Nico had left the son of Jupiter mid-conversation too a couple of minutes before.

“You left him looking like a fish. I mean, more than normal.” Will said.

His tone was light enough to be nonchalant, but Nico thought he caught something else hidden in there. He decided to ignore it. “Just something I had to do. Clear the air. It’s fine.”

“Hmph. So now you can come with me for your obligatory three-day stay in the infirmary. C’mon.”

Nico followed him. When they entered the room, Nico understood how Will might need some help with basic stuff such as cutting bandages and getting snacks. It was still pretty full, with children of Apollo and volunteers going back and forth among the injured. Silently, Nico wondered how he was supposed to get rest there. He would be better off in his own vampire-styled cabin.

As if he’d read his thoughts, Will grabbed his arm to keep him walking ahead. Nico had the immediate reaction to shake it off, but he found the grip to be much too strong for his exhausted body to fight at the moment, so he allowed it, even if the skeletal butterflies went crazy in his empty stomach.

Will led him through a back door that opened into a quieter room. A Roman legionnaire slept in one of the two cots.

“Post-op,” Will said, as if that explained everything. Then he frowned. “Well, no-ICU-needed post-op. Anyway. You should be able to rest here. But first,” he rummaged through his jeans’ pockets until he produced a granola bar. “You’re gonna eat this, a’rite? You’re extremely mal-nourished, Mr. Lord of Darkness.”

Nico wanted to take that as an offense. He knew it was true, though. His relationship with food was… complicated, to say the least. He had developed somewhat of an appetite over the quest, but for some reason it decided to disappear as soon as danger wasn’t immediate anymore. Either way, Nico found himself accepting the bar and munching on it after only two seconds of intense glaring on Will’s part.

To push away the nausea he was feeling, he chose to focus on the interesting way Will pronounced the letter _r_. It was slightly different from most people Nico knew. It reminded him of Leo.

And that thought was enough for Nico to close off again. Suddenly, he went from wanting to get Will talking just to hear that _r_ to not feeling like having a conversation anymore.

Will noticed. “Hey, glare at the granola bar all you want – you still gotta finish it. Then you’re gettin’ into bed and sleepin’.”

“It’s early in the morning.”

“Yeah. Like you’ve slept.”

Nico didn’t deny it, but he didn’t drop the scowl either.

“Don’t throw a hissy fit,” Will said. “Just get in the dang gurney and close your eyes. Your body should shut down upon contact, and I’ll be back to see you late in the afternoon.”

That didn’t have as many _rs_ as _Mr. Lord of Darkness_ , but Nico took what he could get and forced down the granola bar. It was weird to eat it while Will supervised him, as if Nico would throw it out the window and claim he’d eaten it. Alas, he managed to gulp it down and climb into the free cot. Will stayed until he got under the sheets and lay his head down on the pillow. Then, as the son of Apollo had predicted, Nico’s body shut down.

* * *

When he woke up, he knew one thing: it wasn’t late afternoon.

With a jolt, he remembered the times on the quest when he had passed out for thirty-six hours straight and wondered how long he’d been out this time. The Roman legionnaire wasn’t in the cot next to him anymore. The sun was shining annoyingly bright through the drawn drapes. His back and his head were hurting.

Nico waited a while, getting his bearings until he could sit up. There was a glass of water on the bedside table, which he was quick to gulp down. There was also another granola bar and a plate with strawberries, but he elected to ignore those.

From the door that he knew led to the main area of the infirmary, he could hear movement and a lot of voices. He was relieved – at least it was still busy, which meant he hadn’t been asleep for, like, two weeks.

Carefully, Nico stood up and opened the curtains. The sun was high up in the sky. Annoyed by the brightness, he walked to the door, opening it just enough to take a look.

Most of the cots were occupied, but the injuries didn’t look as bad now. No lost limps or life-threatening penetrating wounds in the chest. It was still busy, though, with children of Apollo going from patient to patient, carrying bandages, ambrosia, nectar, weird-looking ointments, singing, and so on.

“Will! Will!”

Nico’s eyes followed the voice and found a mop of light brown hair partially hidden by a stack of bandages, running through the obstacles until they reached their destination.

“I got all of them, like you asked!” the girl, who couldn’t be older than eleven, exclaimed.

Will was seated on a stool next to a bed, apparently in the middle of stitching up Sherman Yang’s thigh. His gloves were bloodied. He was holding tweezers in his left hand and a different type of tweezer in his right hand to hold the needle. He looked tired.

“Thanks, Lily,” Will said, still a bit startled by the girl’s sudden appearance. “But remember what I said about running in the infirmary. Pointy things around,” he waved the needle.

The little girl blushed. “Right. Sorry.”

Will’s lips twitched in a quick reassuring smile that had little energy behind it before he yelled over his shoulder, “ _Kayla_!”

“ _What_?”

“Bandages are here! Come get ‘em!”

“Kinda in the middle of something!”

“Yeah, well, so am I!”

“Can’t! Sorry!”

Will sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. Then he took a quick look around the infirmary, probably assessing the next sibling to target with the task. Everyone was busy with something and, after hearing the exchange, they were all avoiding Will’s eyes in hopes of not getting picked.

The son of Apollo sighed again and put his instruments down on the blue sheet he had over Sherman’s leg.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing?” Sherman was quick to complain.

“Two minutes. The anesthesia will hold, just don’t move or touch anything, or I’ll have to sterilize it all over again.”

“For the love of– Solace, _she_ can stock the fucking bandages. It’s not that hard. I have– OUCH!”

“ _Language_ ,” Will scolded, glancing at Lily. “And you ain’t leavin’ after I’m done here. You need to rest your hip, since I’ve _just_ popped it back into place.” He casually took off his gloves and got up while talking, then he took the tower of bandages from Lily. “Gimme those. You stay here for a bit and don’t let anybody touch the blue stuff, a’rite? That’s the sterile field.”

“Okay!” the girl exclaimed eagerly and took the seat Will had vacated.

Sherman huffed, impatient. “Oh, come on, Solace. I can stitch this up myself. Heck, I don’t even need gloves. Weren’t you just rambling to him,” he gestured vaguely to a cot to his right, “about how the longer you leave a wound open, the more likely it is to get infected? I’m not having you get this infected and keep me here longer for antibiotics or some shit.”

“You’ll be fine,” Will replied, disinterested, quickly sorting through the bandages and handing them out to his siblings in a pattern that Nico didn’t understand, but he was sure that Will knew what he was doing.

“I’m serious. I can finish this myself.”

“Bless your heart.”

“How in Hades could she not do what you’re doing right now? I have to get out there and sort through all that mess outside. Do you know how many weapons were damaged? We still have to find all of them in the hills before other monsters steal them and I can’t do that with you and your stupid priorities standing in my way. I thought healers were supposed to know how to prioritize. Triage, right? You know, stitching wounds before distributing gauze? That’s how you keep people from dying, isn’t it? Don’t you have enough balls to control your own cabin and have someone other than the head healer handle such trivial things like–”

His rant was interrupted by the sound of a bunch of bandages being put down forcefully on a table, which made a few tweezers and tape fall to the floor. The whole room went quiet. Nico had to push the door open a few more inches to be able to see Will.

“Don’t you _dare_ question how I run my own cabin and my own infirmary,” Will said in a low voice. “It might come as a shock to you, but this ain’t my first rodeo around here. I was here last year. _You_ just had a minor hip dislocation and a clean, linear, incision wound caused by a sword. You’re not taking antibiotics because the nectar works well enough for us, otherwise you would’ve gotten a _nasty_ infection from that sword, since it took you _three days_ to tell me you had a gash down your whole thigh. Now, according to the Advanced Trauma Life Support developed by the American College of Surgeons, your vitals are all stable, so _you_ are in the green zone, which means you can wait _three hours_ without any threat to your life. And if you actually knew anything about stitching wounds, you’d know that doing so without sterilized gloves will most _definitely_ get it infected. Meanwhile, I can’t ask my ten-year-old sister to distribute the bandages because we’re short on them, so someone with more experience needs to _triage_ who gets them now. So before you go around accusing me of not knowing what I’m doing, you need to lie back down in that cot, because you shouldn’t sit up while recovering from a hip dislocation, and keep your dirty hands _away_ from my sterile field until I get back to you in _two freaking minutes_.”

With that, Will grabbed the bandages again and resumed his walk around the infirmary as if nothing had happened. The other children of Apollo slowly got back to what they had been doing, stifling sniggers and failing to hide their amusement.

As soon as the general noise of the infirmary got back to its usual volume, Nico slipped out of his room to gather what Will had dropped when he’d put down the bandages on a random table. More than a few people turned to him, surprised and/or confused at his presence, but Nico did his best to ignore it.

When he got back up, he nearly hit his head on Will’s arms.

“Nico!” the son of Apollo startled, jumping back a bit. “You’re up.”

“… Yeah.”

He studied Will from up close. There were dark circles under his eyes and his shoulders were slightly slumped. Freckles covered his face, although his skin wasn’t as tanned as Nico remembered it from the day of the battle. His blue eyes searched Nico’s face frenetically. “How’re you feeling?”

Nico shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

Will kept looking at him, but, since Nico didn’t offer anything else, the son of Apollo sighed. “I’m busy as all get-out right now, but I’ll be with you as soon as I can. Thanks, for…” he gestured to the things Nico had picked up from the floor. “I’m a bit all over the place. But I’ll come find you, right quick!"

 _Busy as all get-out_. Nico had heard him say it before. It was another one of his weird expressions. This one Nico thought he’d heard Leo say at some point.

Will brushed past him and headed back to Sherman’s cot, so Nico followed him, deciding to hang around while he waited. Be a… friendly face. Or something. He wasn’t sure.

“Thanks, Lil,” Will said to his sister as she hopped off the stool. “Could you grab me another pair of size 7.5 gloves please?”

Sherman didn’t say anything. He had been lying in the cot, brooding, ever since he had been told off. He didn’t look too happy about it – in fact, he eyed Nico suspiciously, as if ready to yell at him to leave or face the tip of his sword. Before he could do either, though, Will spoke again, this time in a softer tone, while rubbing alcohol between his hands.

“I know Clarisse left a lot for you to do. She’s focusing on the baby and her plans for college and… She’s stepping down and she’s passing it on to you. I know how scary that can be, to have a whole cabin of siblings to be responsible for. But you shouldn’t be trying to prove you’re better at it than her. You should be freaking grateful that she’s here to walk you through it.”

There was a tinge of melancholy in his voice, maybe even a little resentment. Then it hit Nico that Will hadn’t had an older sibling take his hand and teach him how to run a cabin. He had watched his older brothers die, one after the other, until Will had found himself to be the oldest, and right in the middle of a war. Nico thought he looked about fifteen now, so that meant he’d been thirteen or fourteen.

Sherman didn’t offer any sympathy, or any words or eye contact at all. It was fine, since Will didn’t look up from his vigorous and throughout hand washing. Thankfully, Lily didn’t take long to reappear with the gloves.

“A’rite, now remember what I taught you,” Will said. “Grab those ends and pull them apart slowly so I can grab the package inside. Don’t touch the insides. That’s it. There you go! Thanks, sweetheart. Now grab another stool and come sit next to me.” At that, Sherman grunted. Will wasn’t affected. “She’s gotta learn somehow. And you, Death Boy,” Will looked at him and Nico startled, not expecting to be addressed. “Grab a stool, too. If you’re gonna stick around, then you’re sittin’ down. Doctor’s orders.”

While Nico did as he was told – even though it was hard to find an available stool in a nearly full infirmary –, he replayed the way Will said _doctor’s orders_ , with a drawl and those damn _rs_. He concluded that yes, it was very similar to the way Leo spoke, although Leo’s accent was stronger most of the times. Where was he from again? Texas?

Yes, it was Texas. Houston. Nico’s geography wasn’t as bad as one might expect from the Italian kid who got his memory wiped, was dropped in the USA, pretty much traveled seventy years to the future, then was a runaway, and then bounced between camps.

He wasn’t an expert on the different American accents, though. He could recognize Percy’s – and Rachel’s, he guessed. They talked similarly. And he could tell that Piper, Jason, and Thalia also talked in a similar manner. Hazel’s was outdated like his own. But Will – he would slip into it and sound like Leo. The _rs_ and the drawl and the cutting of syllables.

Nico watched him work. Will explained every step to his younger sister, who was listening avidly, hanging on his every word. One could argue that Nico was also hanging on his words, just not as much on the content as on the sound. He was tempted to ask if Will was from Texas, but he didn’t know how to segue it into a conversation.

Not long after, he finished the stitches and taught Lily how to drape the wound. While she worked on it, he scribbled on a piece of paper and talked to Sherman. “I was serious about the hip thing – you can’t sit up so soon or it’ll pop out of place again. Luckily for you, the ambrosia and nectar should work their magic and you should be fine to go by dinner. Imma leave you with some pain meds for when the local anesthesia wears out in a bit.” He ripped off the prescription page from the block and put it on the bedside table. “Lily, when you’re finished there, go see what Kayla needs, okay? I’ll be in the back for a while.”

Will looked at Nico and motioned to the back. Nico followed him until he was back in the “no-ICU-needed post-op” room. Will closed the door behind him and grabbed a clipboard from a nearby table.

There was a beat of silence, and then Will raised his eyebrows. “Well, aren’t ya gonna sit down?”

Nico didn’t realize he _had_ to, but he rolled his eyes and climbed into the bed. Immediately, one of Will’s hands touched his wrist and he pulled it back.

“Hey, no,” Will opened his palm. “I’m checking your vitals.”

Still wary, Nico let him check his pulse, pushing down the weird feeling he got in his stomach at the touch. “How long was I asleep for?”

“The whole day yesterday and then _sum_ ,” Will scribbled in his clipboard. “It’s almost lunch. I left you some breakfast, but I can see that it was completely ignored,” he raised his eyebrows again.

“Not hungry,” Nico mumbled.

“See, I don’t believe that. And anyway, your body’s been through trauma – it needs energy to recover. We’re startin’ slow. Grab a strawberry.”

His body language told Nico that he wouldn’t take no for an answer, so Nico grabbed a damn strawberry and bit into it. He had never been a fan of the fruit, to be honest. It was supposed to be sweet, right? It was fruit. But most of them weren’t sweet enough for him.

As he tried to eat, Will kept talking. “Since you’ve never stayed in the infirmary for long enough for anyone to put together your file, that’s what I have to do now, and you’re gonna sit through it and just answer my questions. Full name?”

Nico gave him a _Really?_ look. “Nico di Angelo.”

“Date and place of birth?”

“January 28th, 1929.” He watched as Will’s eyes shot up from his paper to Nico’s face. “But I spent seventy years in a magical hotel, so you can just put fourteen on the file.”

The way Will kept looking at him made Nico a bit uncomfortable until he shook his head. “Right. Yeah. I’d forgotten about that. Sorry. 1929, got it. And where…?”

“Venice. Italy.”

“Right… Wait.”

“Yeah.”

Will’s mouth formed an _O_ as he kept looking at Nico with this… dazzled expression, as if he’d never seen someone born in another country. Nico was still uncomfortable with the attention and fidgeted in his seat. Then he realized the perfect opportunity he had been handled and said, “Stop looking at me like I’ve grown two heads. Where are _you_ from?”

At that, Will recovered quickly. “Austin, Texas. A bit far from here, but obviously not as far as… well. I… Why’re you laughing?”

Nico hadn’t been _laughing_ , just trying very hard not to. His smile must have slipped out. “Oh, nothing. I just figured you were from Texas. You… you kinda sound like Leo.”

Will’s smile slowly melted and Nico regretted his words. That wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Oh,” the son of Apollo said in a more subdued tone, averting his gaze. “I mean, I reckon I do. But we’re both from big cities, so it’s not so obvious. I’m impressed you picked up on it. I… It was nice having someone from home here. Do you – I mean, can you tell if… Is he really…?”

“I’m sorry,” he tried to comfort him. “I felt his death.”

Will nodded, his knuckles turning white around the clipboard and the pen he was holding. He looked out the window, his expression stony. Nico observed his blue eyes from the side and how they seemed a lot shinier now.

Suddenly, Will sniffled and turned back to Nico, raising the clipboard again. “Anyway, we’re talking about you. Um, any known previous illnesses?”

“Will,” Nico pushed down the clipboard a bit so the other boy wasn’t hiding behind it anymore. “It’s okay to take a moment to grieve.”

He gave a nervous chuckle. “Have you _seen_ my infirmary? I didn’t even have time to go to the funerals, not even of my own–” he stopped abruptly and closed his eyes. It was a moment before he continued. “I’m sure you conducted a lovely service. They all deserved it. Thank you.”

Nico thought back on the children of Apollo that had died. Two from Camp Half-Blood, if he remembered correctly. Then he focused on how tight Will was gripping his pen, his eyes still closed, as if he was trying to repress those memories, or maybe guilt for not being able to go to their funerals. Tentatively, Nico put his hand over his and slowly pried the pen from his fingers.

“You can take a moment now.”

Will opened his eyes, and Nico noticed that they were definitely bloodshot now, with tears threatening to spill out. They fixed on his own dark ones. “We took a pretty bad hit in the Battle of Manhattan. This is just… It’s like I can’t save them.”

“You save so many people. You just can’t save everyone. No one can. Here, give me this,” Nico took the clipboard from him and placed it on the edge of the mattress with the pen. “You’re taking a moment now.”

But Will still looked unsure. “I ain’t got the time now, Nico.”

“Sure you do. You’re… uh, you’re supervising me while I eat my late breakfast,” Nico stretched out and grabbed the plate of strawberries, putting it in his lap. “And you might as well sit. Doctor’s orders.”

The corners of Will’s lips twitched and he relented, taking a seat on the bed next to him. Then he deflated and ran a hair through his hair and face. “That mischievous lil’ son of Hephaestus. I knew he was gonna pull something stupid and heroic, and sure ‘nuff, he blew himself up to save us.” He gave a watery chuckle. “I wanna kill him.”

 _Can’t do that anymore_ , Nico wanted to joke, but he held back. “Don’t worry. We all do.” He forced himself to pop a full strawberry into his mouth. “I mean, they went through all the trouble to get the physician’s cure, only for Leo to keep it, as if he could give it to himself when he died.”

Will frowned. “The physician’s cure? You went to see Asclepius?”

“Well, _I_ wasn’t there, but yeah. They got it. Dad hates when people do that.”

They were silent after that. Nico kept forcing himself to eat so he could give Will the peace and quiet he needed for a moment to at least start grieving. Not that Nico was one to talk about grieving healthily – he knew he didn’t have the best track record. However, he felt, as a son of Hades, that it was his duty to help guide people through that process, especially if they were going down a bad path.

“I know you need to be strong for your siblings,” Nico said softly, “so whenever you need a moment, and you _will_ need a lot of moments… Well, the décor’s horrible, but my cabin’s quiet and oftentimes empty. I wouldn’t mind.”

Will’s eyes were breathtakingly beautiful when he looked over, and Nico immediately repressed that thought. It was way too early to fall down _that_ hole again. He had only just gotten over Percy and his sea-green eyes. Although the blue right in front of him was quite nice – it was like the sky on a sunny day. Gentle. Inviting.

“Thank you,” Will said. “I might take you up on that.”

Nico could feel his cheeks heating up, but he couldn’t look away. That last sentence didn’t have any _rs_ in it for Nico to enjoy, but he noticed the different way he said _I_ – it sounded like _Aah_. He didn’t know why he was so fixated on this. It was just the opposite way of how Percy spoke. Will usually spoke in a slow and relaxed way, with a hard _r_ , against Percy’s fast-paced, no- _r_ NYC speech. It was a nice change.

“You’re Italian,” Will suddenly said with a small smile. “Now that you’ve mentioned it, I can totally see it; the whole Mediterranean look with the dark hair and such. So you must speak Italian as well.”

Now Nico’s cheeks were definitely warm. “I mean, I… I haven’t spoken it in years. It’s not like I have anyone…” his thoughts started drifting to Bianca, so he shut them out. “It’s not so simple. After my mother was… well, killed, Hades had us bathed in the Lethe so we would forget what had happened. I think we’d been in the US for a while then. I don’t know, I was like, ten, so I picked up English pretty easily. I’m out of practice with Italian, but I…” He remembered trying to read the signs in Portugal. “I still understand it well enough.”

“You don’t have an accent,” Will pointed out.

“You sound disappointed.”

“Maybe I am a little.”

Was he…? No, he couldn’t possibly be flirting with him. It was just friendly banter, and even that sounded weird enough to Nico. He turned his gaze to land on the other bed a few paces away from them. “I remember how my mom used to call me, though. It was always… _angioletto_ , or _tesorino_ , or…” He looked down at the strawberry in his hand, thinking back on how their mom called Bianca _fragolina_ because _she_ liked strawberries. “She was always coming up with new words to call us.”

“She sounds lovely.”

“Yeah,” Nico felt himself closing off. It was nearly a physical sensation now. “So obviously Zeus had to kill her. I don’t wanna talk about it.”

They were silent for a while following his snapping. Nico didn’t like, in fact, he didn’t even try, to work on his Italian, even to see how much he actually remembered. He didn’t want to try to speak it at all. The only people who could speak it with him were now dead, so there was no point. Speaking it, even just a couple of words, activated his muscle memory and it sent a chain of memories through his brain; memories he worked hard on suppressing so he could keep going with his life. He wanted to rip out the language from his head altogether.

After a few moments, Will said, “I think it’s cute.”

“What?”

“You speaking Italian.”

Nico scoffed. “I said two words.”

“Well,” Will smirked, “if you say more, I can hit ya with a full-on Southerner accent, and I ain’t all hat and no cattle, I’ll tell ya that.”

Nico looked at him for a second to gauge whether he was serious. Then he couldn’t help but laugh at the heavy accent he’d pulled. “You’re ridiculous, Solace.”

“Yeah, but now you owe me.”

“I don’t owe you shit.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Nico focused on his strawberry and noticed with a start that it was the last one. He had managed to eat all of them. Before he could fully process it, Will gently took the plate from him and put it back on the bedside table. Then he leaned over him to grab his clipboard and pen. Nico’s face burned up at the proximity, even if it was short-lived.

“As much as I enjoy deflecting, I really gotta finish this,” Will tapped the clipboard with a guilty smile. “They’re gonna need me out there. Actually, I’m surprised nobody’s barged in yet, but I ain’t complaining. So, where were we… Ah! Any known previous illnesses?”

“No.”

“Family history of illnesses?”

“No idea.”

“Allergies or previous surgeries?”

“Nope.”

Will scribbled away, checking out a few more boxes without the need to ask, apparently. Finally, he nodded to Nico’s exposed arms. “Any more injuries to report, besides the obvious?”

His first instinct was to recoil. As soon as he had had time to, he had changed out of his ridiculous Puerto Rican T-shirt. Jason had saved him actually, by giving him some forgotten T-shirts that Thalia had left around the cabin – they fit his style better, and they in fact fit him (apparently, fifteen-year-old Thalia liked baggy shirts, and they happened to fit a fourteen-year-old Nico without much of a fuss). Now, he was wearing a simple, black, band tee, which unfortunately left his arms very exposed.

“No,” Nico said dryly. “Just those.”

Will hummed to himself as he hopped off the bed, and Nico tried not to miss his warmth. He put the clipboard and the pen next to the empty plate and the forgotten granola bar before he walked back and stood right in front of Nico. “How’d you get those?”

“Werewolf claws.”

“When?”

Nico frowned. “A week ago? I think? I don’t know, there was a lot going on, and I passed out a lot.”

“Don’t doubt that,” Will said sarcastically and moved his hands towards the wounds on his left arm. “May I?”

With only a moment’s hesitation, Nico nodded. Will’s fingers were warm and gentle as they brushed his skin, pushing up his sleeve so he could see the whole picture. He pulled Nico’s arm toward him and held it. His thumb ran over the bruised skin of his biceps.

“These are nice stitches,” he commented.

“Reyna knows a thing or two.”

“But it’s still extremely inflamed. Doesn’t look infected, but they most hurt,” he looked up.

Nico kept the eye contact. “Burns, yeah.”

“And you didn’t get beaten?”

“Nah,” Nico smirked. “Stabbed the bastard right before he could and then used his shadow to get away.”

Will’s lips twitched before he turned serious again. “Nico… I’m glad you have these powers and that you used them to get yourself, and others, out of situations like this. And to get the statue here. But please, and I mean this…” His eyes met Nico’s again and they were steady. “You can’t even _attempt_ any of that before you get your strength back. Then you’ll have to learn to pace yourself. When I saw you at the hills, and then I touched your hand, I… You were barely _there_. And Coach Hedge told me about the time when they couldn’t move you for _three days_ because you weren’t substantial enough. D’you realize how serious that is?”

His hands were still holding his arm – one under his elbow to support it and the other wrapped around his biceps, his thumb slowly tracing the wounds. Nico didn’t know if Will was aware of that movement, but _he_ couldn’t be more aware of it. For some reason, it didn’t burn when he did it. It was… soothing.

“I knew I was fading,” Nico said in a determined voice. “Of course I knew that. But I had a mission to complete, even if it cost my life.”

Will’s eyes flickered between his. “Good thing you’ve completed it then, because you’re forbidden from doing any Underworld magic until I say so. You’re still fading. It’s not as bad, but you’re not out of the woods yet, Mr. Lord of Darkness. I know it goes against your whole aesthetic, but later I’m taking you to spend some time in the sun. Anchor you back. Right now, I’ve got some ointments that might help with this swelling. The stitches will have to stay for longer than usual. When I’m finished here, Imma get us some lunch, then you’re gonna help me around here, since you’re not bedridden. A’rite?”

He had dumped so much information at once in his doctor voice that Nico had a bit of a hard time keeping up. He nodded anyway and waited while Will left to grab what he needed. When he came back, he ordered Nico to lie down, so that’s what he did.

“This may burn a little,” Will warned as he pushed up the sleeve on the right arm as well.

Nico grunted in response, ready for the pain. It didn’t come, though. With careful hands, Will spread the ointment over his large, red, swollen wounds. He took his sweet time, too, but Nico wasn’t complaining. It soothed the pain. For one of the rare times in his life, it felt good to be touched in a caring way.

When Will was done with both arms, he hummed a small hymn. Then he opened his eyes and looked expectantly at Nico’s arms.

“What?” Nico asked, glancing down at them as well.

“Nothing,” Will shook his head and started organizing the things he’d brought over. “It’s just… I’m not even sure if the hymns are working.”

Nico watched him carefully. “Apollo’s still not answering?”

“It’s not like the gods are all answering our delayed prayers right now, right? It’s fine, it’s just…” He sighed heavily. “I’m just worried. Percy told me that Zeus blasted Apollo out of the Parthenon after the battle and that he seemed extremely mad, blaming him for everything. Rachel still can’t see the future, which means the oracles aren’t working. This had nothing to do with Gaea, so I just – I mean, I’m… worried.”

And he looked like it, too, even though Nico was of the opinion that something seemed off when Will Solace was so down about something. He sat up and reached out to place what he hoped was a comforting hand on the son of Apollo’s arm.

“Hey, he’s a god, right? One of the Olympians, the big ones. He’ll be fine.”

Will offered him a tentative smile. Then he bended the arm Nico was touching so he could put _his_ hand on _Nico’s_ arm. Nico felt his biceps contracting under his palm. He could _not_ go down that hole, so he withdrew his arm slowly, keeping a reassuring smile so Will wouldn’t know anything was off.

“I’ll be back real quick with lunch,” Will told him. “Don’t go anywhere. Unless I’m not back in twenty minutes, then you can hunt down my siblings until you find the culprit,” he winked.

Nico told the skeletal butterflies in his stomach to quiet down and managed to keep a smile on his face until the door closed behind Will. Then he smacked himself in the forehead for being so _stupid stupid stupid_ , _again_. First, get a crush on the live version of his childhood game hero. Then get a crush on the caring healer who was nursing him back to life. What was his _problem_?

* * *

The accent. The accent was his problem.

Well, it wasn’t his _only_ problem. The curly golden hair, the sky-blue eyes, the tanned skin, the freckles, the muscles on display since he insisted on wearing short sleeves and shorts (it was summer, but still), the blinding smile, the warmest personality ever, the gentleness, the caring touch, the worrying about Nico’s health… It was all dangerous.

But the accent. The blasted _accent_.

Nico had learnt one thing about Will’s accent: it got worse when he was stressed. Considering that the battle was over and the infirmary was slowly emptying out, the accent was disappearing with it, which truly was a shame.

But then the scroll came in, with Leo’s stupid hologram and stupid Texan accent.

“ _Hey, guys!” said tiny Leo. “Sorry to leave you like that. Bad news: I died. Good news: I got better! I had to go rescue Calypso. We’re both fine now. We’re taking Festus to– Back as soon as– Cook tacos when– ¡Vaya com queso! Love ya!_ ”

A frustrated yell resonated throughout the conference room as Piper hit the parchment scroll and it sent it flying to the floor. “I’m gonna _kill_ him!”

 _Now you can_ , Nico wanted to comment, but refrained, again.

“Be right there with you,” Jake Mason, interim head counselor for the Hephaestus cabin, said.

“We should issue a quest,” Jason leaned forward. “Gods know where he is.”

Piper scoffed. “I know where he is. He is one step away from being strangled by my bare hands! I–” she cut herself off with a sob, covering her mouth with her hand. Jason grabbed her free hand, holding on tight.

Meanwhile, Will had gotten up and picked up the scroll. He held it carefully, as if afraid to break it, as he stared at it. Nico felt his insides turning in anger at Leo’s audacity. For sacrificing himself. For letting them think he was dead – even though he had been. For not coming back straight away. For making a shitty scroll with a shitty connection.

“Can we pinpoint Ogygia’s location in any way?” Will suddenly looked up, interrupting the numerous curses and cries of relief from the other head counselors. “I mean, now that Calypso’s curse is broken, just so we can have an idea…”

He trailed off looking at Percy. Then everybody sort of turned to Percy,

The son of Poseidon gaped. “How do you even…?”

“Y’all aren’t discreet,” Will explained.

Percy shrank in his seat a little and glanced nervously at Annabeth before addressing the room. “I’ve no idea, man! It’s a magical island. I couldn’t pinpoint where it was, cuz it wasn’t anywhere, technically speaking.”

“And if Percy couldn’t situate himself in the middle of the sea, then we have no chance of figuring it out,” Annabeth cut in. “They could’ve popped up anywhere.”

They continued arguing over the best way to deal with the situation, with Jason insisting, over and over, that they needed a quest to find Leo, and Chiron shutting him down repeatedly. In the end, Annabeth promised to do research with her cabin as best as they could, and Chiron allowed Jason and Piper to leave camp and try to find him.

As people started filling out, Nico went over to Will and took the scroll from him. “I think I’ll keep this.”

Will huffed. “Suit yourself.”

But then Jake Mason came to do the exact same thing. “We wanna run it a bunch of times and see if we can find something about his surroundings.”

Nico narrowed his eyes at him. “And break it?”

“Hey! We don’t do that. Most of the times.”

“Yeah. Don’t think so,” Nico pocketed the scroll.

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and Will spoke. “What Death Boy here _means_ is ‘ _of course you can have your brother’s scroll, Jake. As soon as you get all the information you can from it, I’d like it back, please_ ’. See, that wasn’t so hard,” Will put his hand in Nico’s jacket’s pocket and pulled the object out before Nico could do anything. “Don’t break it.”

Jake took it and smiled. “Thanks! Oh, and Will, we kinda… Well, Nyssa might’ve applied the wrong burn ointment again.”

“ _Again_?”

“Yeah.”

Will sighed and rubbed his forehead. “How many times do I have to–"

“Hey, we can never remember which is which!”

“Yeah, well, if y’all’d’ve paid attention in my health class a few weeks ago, this wouldn’t keep happenin’.”

Nico frowned. Glancing around quickly, he noticed that the campers who remained also frowned. By chance, he met Percy’s gaze as the he was leaving the room and they both shared a look of confusion. _Y’all’d’ve_?

“Hey, Will?” Connor Stoll broke the silence. “I know how we can find Leo.”

Slowly, as if knowing it would be bad, Will turned around and gave a sarcastic smile. “Yeah?”

“You can just start singing _Deep in the Heart of Texas_ as loudly as you can that Leo will most certainly come back just to sing it with you.”

* * *

“I don’t even _know_ that song so well,” Will complained, leaning back on his hands on the grass. “It’s not even that good.”

Nico didn’t have an opinion on the song, since he didn’t know it, but, based on the name, he guessed it wasn’t his style. Also, based on how much the others had made fun of it after Will had flipped Connor off, he guessed it was just as good as it sounded.

“I don’t know,” Nico shrugged. “If you think he might hear it and join you…”

“Not doin’ it, di Angelo. Not even you can talk me into it.”

Nico smirked. His cheek muscles still weren’t accustomed to being used so often. “I bet I could.”

Something changed in Will’s eyes as he considered him for what felt like the longest moment. “Yeah, you probably could.”

Inside his rib cage, Nico’s heart decided to speed up its rhythm, for no apparent reason. Well, Nico knew the reason, but maybe if he ignored it, it would go away. There was just something about the way Will barely pronounced the word _probably_ , running over the middle syllable, that, coupled with that _face_ , was just too much.

Just to have somewhere else to look, Nico glanced back at the woods behind them, remembering the numerous times he’d wandered in there, feeling unwelcome among the other campers. Will followed his gaze, and then he leaned forward, leaning his elbows on his knees in their crisscross position.

“D’you… D’you know the Battle of the Labyrinth?”

Will’s question caught him off-guard. “Yes,” Nico said without much emotion, “I was there.”

“I know, I know,” Will fiddled with the grass in front of him, eyes strictly down. “I was there too.”

For some reason, Nico had never considered that. He had never stopped to think about how long Will had been at camp. He knew he had been there the previous year, during the Battle of Manhattan, but he hadn’t stopped to think much further back. They weren’t good memories, anyway.

“I remember–” Will started, then cut himself off. It took him a moment to try again. “It was the first big battle I’d seen. The first I was in. The first with, you know, so many casualties, with so many people to… I mean, I always knew that being a field healer wasn’t an easy job, but I’d never had to… _triage_ campers like that, to decide who to help first.”

Nico had a lot of memories of that night – raising an undead army, too many monsters to count, the feeling of _This is it_ , the many losses, the many shrouds to burn after, releasing Dedalus’s spirit and not trading it for Bianca’s… He didn’t like to think back on it lest he’d regret his decision.

“I remember you,” Will said suddenly. Nico turned to him, but the other boy kept on playing with the grass. “Raising that undead army to help. And then nearly passing out,” now he met his eyes, “which seems to be a pattern for you.”

At that, Nico felt his walls going up. “I did what I had to do.”

“I know you did,” he reassured with a kind tone of voice. “I’m not accusing you. I just… I wish you didn’t have to do things like that all the time. It’s not fair to ask so much of you.”

Nico wanted to laugh. Not fair on whose part? Who was asking so much of him? Because, on that particular instance, he remembered very clearly Percy calling his name and silently asking him to do the impossible. So of course he did.

What he said instead was, “Demigod life isn’t fair, Solace. I’m way past the point of complaining about it.”

Will was still looking at him as if seeing that day. “I remember after the battle. I was trying so hard not to panic,” he gave a humorless laugh and looked down. “Then I saw you on the ground, with smoke coming out of your clothes. I wanted to go over and help, but Tyson got to you, and–” His voice caught and he cleared his throat. “And I was called over to see Lee. I _knew_ , as soon as I saw him from afar – I mean, his head was just _so_ … But I completely ignored everything I knew about triage, which is that the dead are at the very bottom of priorities, and I just… ran to him. Like there was still something I could do.”

His voice carried so much pain that something in Nico propelled him to stop Will’s hands on the grass with a touch to his wrist. “It’s kinda blurry, but I was fine after some nectar. It’s fine. He was your brother.”

Will gave him a small smile. One of his hands turned so the palm was up, and his fingers just brushed against Nico’s fingertips. “I remember when you showed up with _another_ undead army in the Battle of Manhattan, after being gone for a whole year. What– Where were you?”

Nico pulled his hand back into his lap. “All over the place.”

Will pursed his lips, and Nico got the feeling that he wanted to press the issue. “I didn’t see you in the infirmary after the battle.”

“I was fine.”

“I saw you around. I saw you eating at the main table with Chiron and Mr. D. You weren’t as fine as you pretended to be.”

Nico focused his gaze on the Strawberry Fields in front of them.

“There was this… darkness to you,” Will said. “And don’t say it’s just your ‘aura’ or something. I knew something was wrong. But, I mean… I thought I’d– But then I didn’t– And I couldn’t…”

Nico turned back to him and noticed how nervous he’d become – hands fiddling with the grass again, eyes downcast, running over syllables and cutting off words. He didn’t understand why Will would be nervous, though.

Will took a deep breath. “What I mean is that I meant to talk to you. Then. Check up on you. But I just…” he made a gesture with his hands. “I never worked up the courage. Then you went away again.”

“The _courage_?” Nico repeated suspiciously, then scoffed. “See, you keep saying I’m wrong, but then you… People are scared to talk to me. They just are.”

Will’s cheeks became a bit flushed, although it could have been from the sun. “I wasn’t… _scared_ of you.”

“Right.”

“Your undead army saved us, alright?” Will’s voice became more confident. “It didn’t _scare_ me. You never did. Try as you might, Death Boy, you’re not as scary as you think you are. Intimidating? I mean, yeah. You’re very powerful. But, you know, Annabeth’s intimidating, and people like her. It’s not so black and white.”

“People flinched when I got close.”

“Yeah, well, if you didn’t hide in the shadows and _pop up_ out of _nowhere_ , people wouldn’t jump as much. We’ve had this conversation. We never pushed you away. _You_ pushed yourself away by making yourself unavailable to approach at all. Seriously, you ran away from conversations.”

Nico looked away again. It was hard to accept that maybe the campers weren’t disgusted by him, since very few had ever approached him and tried to make conversation in the past. Congratulating him for saving their sorry asses was fine, but it hadn’t lasted. And anyway, Nico wasn’t the type of person who needed friends like that. He had his ghosts and a literal handful of people he could trust.

“Sorry,” Will mumbled and shook his head. “This wasn’t supposed to turn into a lecture again. I promise I was going somewhere with all that talk.”

For some reason, the corners of Nico’s mouth trembled, as if wanting to smile. “You sure about that?”

Will threw him a small glare, although there was little heat behind it. Or not, Nico thought. He felt pretty warm right now, specially when the son of Apollo glanced his way like now. “What I was trying to say – and illustrate – is that you never took the time to recover after exhausting your powers in major battles. So I’m… I’m really glad you accepted this time. You’re looking better,” his voice dropped to a softer tone as his blue eyes scanned Nico’s face.

 _Were all healers like this?_ Nico wondered. Under Will’s watchful gaze, his face felt way too hot, even considering that he was under the early afternoon sun. He wasn’t sure if the other healers took the time off their schedules to bring an already discharged patient for a sun bath, even a week after said discharge.

_Of course healers are like this, you idiot. He’s just finishing your treatment. Don’t see it as more than what it is. He’s just a caring person._

Nico swallowed down his dry throat. “I feel better.”

Slowly, as if giving him a chance to pull back, Will took his arm by the elbow and wrist, holding his forearm directly under the sunlight. “Now we can’t see each individual vein in your arm anymore. Never would’ve thought you tanned easily. Well, _tan_ is a bit of a strong word. You went from transparent to grayish, but it’s a start!”

Nico admired his enthusiasm. It was true, though, about his skin. Nico had looked at himself in the mirror the day before – _really_ looked – and noticed that his skin was slowly going back to its natural olive color. And he did tan easily. He would’ve been extremely tanned from their quest if the countereffect of using his Underworld powers hadn’t been stronger.

“Yeah,” he managed to say. “Mediterranean complexion on both sides of the family I guess.”

Will smiled, and it still felt like a million suns whenever he did that. _His_ skin was tanned, but in a warm way. When Nico “tanned”, it was more in a greenish tone – hence the name “olive skin”. Will, on the other hand, radiated warmth. His skin had a golden undertone, specially under the sun like this, lighting up his freckles.

The hand on his elbow had dropped, but the one on his wrist hadn’t. Those warm fingers had wrapped themselves loosely under the wrist to support it and the thumb was tracing the veins lightly. Will did that sometimes, and Nico could never tell if he was aware of it. He never brought attention to it, though, because it felt nice and, if he brought attention to it, Will would probably pull back and never touch him again.

“I don’t feel so much darkness in you anymore,” Will said. “Are the shadows still calling for you?”

Nico shook his head. “The sun’s helped a lot.”

Will moved to check on the werewolf claw wounds on his biceps, even though he had already checked on them earlier while wrapping them up (“ _I know you won’t wear sunscreen, and if this is out in the sun for too long while it heals, the scar’s gonna be bigger_ ”). He traced the bandage. “Does it burn more under the sun?”

“Barely burns anymore.” And it was true. The ointments that Will insisted on applying at least once a day, twice when he could convince Nico, really helped with the pain.

“You should let me change the dressing more often.”

“I thought we were short on bandages, Dr. Sunshine.”

“Austin went with Lily to get more. We’re fine.”

Nico didn’t know when it happened, but their voices were soft and just above a whisper, as if this was a much more private conversation. They were in a secluded enough area that other campers didn’t bother them, just the occasional child of Demeter working on the strawberries. In such a low tone, Will didn’t have an accent.

Suddenly, Nico became nervous about being pretty much alone with him.

Will must have felt the charged air between them, because he blushed again. He didn’t rush to pull away, though, which surprised Nico. His wrist still rested against the bend of Nico’s arm, his fingers touching the bandage on his biceps but also occasionally brushing the naked skin around. Since he’d leaned it to check the wound, his whole body was turned to Nico, his face closer than usual.

“Thank you,” Nico blurted out, surprising himself.

It surprised Will as well and his head tilted a bit to the side. It was adorable. “What for?”

“You know. Healing me and stuff. And keeping me company here.”

Then Will did something even more adorable and scrunched up his face. “It’s my job, it’s alright.”

Nico raised his eyebrows. Feeling brave, he asked, “Is it your job to use your free time to drag me out to the Strawberry Fields on a random Tuesday so I can ‘get some sun’, even though most of my camp activities are outdoors?”

Will’s blush deepened and his mouth opened and closed a couple of times. “I– Yes– I mean, it’s part of your prescription. I’m reinforcing it. Besides…” he looked down, watching as his fingers moved down and brushed the skin of Nico forearm before retreating. “It might surprise you, but I like spending time with you. I told you, some people here wanna get to know you.”

The touch to his forearm sent an electric current along Nico’s body. He felt charged, as if the tiniest stimulus could set him running. It was a good thing that Will had pulled away, because he didn’t know if he could handle much more contact.

“I, um…” Will started, looking nervous again. “I’ve archery at three. D’you wanna come with? I mean, I suck at it, but–”

“You _say_ you suck, by your child of Apollo standards.”

“– but it’d be good exercise for your arms. You know. To heal better. It won’t tear the stitches, I promise. And if everything goes well, I can take ‘em out.”

Nico narrowed his eyes. “Are you trying to seduce me with the idea of having these annoying stitches out to get me to hang out with more people?”

Will blushed yet again, which made Nico realize his choice of words and blush as well.

After stuttering for a bit, Will said, “I’m not _not_ … seducing you. With that idea,” he added quickly.

Nico willed his heart to stop skipping beats and go back to its normal rate. Usually, he didn’t like feeling this way. It was too much and he couldn’t control it. Now, though, it helped warm him up and he knew he needed it after almost disappearing into shadows. It was an intense feeling, but, for once, it wasn’t completely uncomfortable and unwelcome.

With a side-smirk, Nico said, “Fine. I’ll go with you if you promise to take the stitches out.”

“That’s _not_ what I said.”

“A deal is a deal.” Nico hesitated, then he thought he might throw the bait. “Mr. Dr. Sunshine.”

Slowly, Will’s expression turned from exasperated to amused. “Fine. Mr. Lord of Darkness.”

There. His _rs_ were back and Nico’s heart fluttered again.

* * *

It had been over a month, nearly two, in fact. It was the third Friday of September, and Fridays meant capture of the flag, so that’s where Nico found himself, checking his armor. Most campers had left for the school year, so there weren’t many people to play. He had only agreed to an alliance with the Aphrodite cabin because Piper was back for a few days.

(She and Jason had spent the previous week in Miami, hoping to catch Leo leaving the Sea of Monsters, in case that was where he was, but they hadn’t found anything.)

He had avoided the Aphrodite campers as a whole during this time. It just reminded him of Cupid and everything that had happened, and it left a bad taste in his mouth. And more than that – he was trying to squash his stupid crush, and being around them didn’t help.

But Piper was nice. She didn’t giggle whenever two campers exchanged a long gaze. On the contrary, she gave her siblings the finger when they giggled when Jason kissed her. It was a nice change.

Suddenly, interrupting his thoughts, an arrow perched on the ground near him. As everyone on his team looked up, they found Kayla waving at them with a smug look on her face and her bow in her hand, followed by Austin and Will and the rest of the red team.

“Hey!” Malcolm yelled. “You can’t do that before the game even starts!”

“She didn’t hit any of you!” Will called back. “It’s just a warning!”

They left chuckling. Jason was by the back; he looked at Nico and rolled his eyes, then he winked at Piper and jogged to catch up.

“Why’s your boyfriend not on our team?” Valentina Diaz asked Piper as the latter helped her with her armor. “He’s, like, super good.”

“He’s not on our team because _this_ one is,” Piper pointed at Nico and smiled. “Can’t have two children of the Big Three on one team and none on the other. It’s a bit unfair.”

Nico crossed his arms. “Hey, you _begged_ me for an alliance.”

“ _Yes_. It’s nice to change things up a little. And Malcolm wanted you as well. Besides, I don’t need Jason to be by my side all the time – sometimes I just like to hit him.”

Valentina sighed. “Whatever you say. I’d still like someone like that next to me in a fight. Although I’ve noticed that Will’s been spending more time in the arena these days,” she looked wishfully in the direction that the red team had disappeared. “Summer looks _very_ good on him.”

Nico barely had time to feel jealous. There was a scoff and a chuckle behind him, and they all turned to Cecil, who was sharpening his sword. “I would stop daydreaming, if I were you, Tina. Will’s as gay as they come.”

Valentina pouted. “Damn, I figured. It’s such a pity, though.”

“Yeah,” Piper said, glancing meaningfully at Nico. “A pity.”

Nico felt his heart going into overdrive. He had spent a month and a half doing his best to push away his crush, figuring it was just another attraction to yet another straight guy who just wanted to be friends with him. He was a sucker for kind people who seemed to care about him, so obviously he’d found himself melting at Will’s feet after barely a week. Sure, the son of Apollo was always asking to spend time with him and would randomly find excuses to touch him, but, you know… he was just a friendly person.

To that extent, though? Nico didn’t see him taking Cecil on a walk on the hills, even though the son of Hermes was one of his best friends. He didn’t see him leaning his head on Cecil’s shoulder to beg for a canoe ride. He didn’t see him letting his fingertips “accidentally” brush against Cecil’s wrist, hand, forearm as he talked.

 _Oh, gods_ , Nico thought he might be sick. His crush was actually gay and extra friendly to him. What in Hades was he going to do with that information?

His thoughts were interrupted again, this time by Malcolm clapping loudly to get their attention and discuss their strategy. Nico understood his part well enough: stay near the stream, hidden, and get in the way. Summon bones to make people trip, startle them by coming out of nowhere and besting them in a fight, that sort of stuff.

It was strangely quiet there, which was weird, since the Ares cabin usually chose a more aggressive approach. As soon as he spotted a red helmet, though, he made that person trip and came out of the shadows to try and arrest them.

He didn’t get the chance, though, because an arrow landed in front of his feet when he got close enough to wield his sword. He turned immediately, trying to track down where it had come from. Judging by the angle, he figured the archer was on a tree.

That was as far as he got, because his moment of distraction was enough for the red team camper to knock him in the stomach and take off running. With a grunt, Nico bended over, trying not to vomit and making a conscious effort to breathe through the pain. He could summon a skeleton to hold the obvious Ares camper back for a moment until he caught his breath, but decided against it. The Hermes kids were not too far ahead.

Another problem: he was vulnerable, in the open, and there was an enemy archer nearby.

With another grunt, he hid himself behind a tree. After he’d taken a couple of deep breaths and didn’t feel like throwing up so much, he turned to scan the trees, urging the shadows to hide his face partially.

His eyes moved from tree to tree, up and down, side to side, waiting for movement or the shine of a bow. Perhaps the archer had gone away with the Ares camper. Yeah, that was a possibility. Or he was a frontier guard, like Nico.

Wait.

A glint of gold caught his eyes, but it was higher than he’d expected the archer to be.

He wanted to get rid of the threat, but he couldn’t very well fly up there or cause the camper to fall – it was too far up. He frowned, annoyed. He didn’t want to deal with random arrows every time he tried to arrest an enemy. It wasn’t fair.

He figured it was Kayla. She was usually the one perched somewhere, annoying everybody with her precise arrows. Nico had been hit once, in the leg. It wasn’t nice.

But… that archer’s stance didn’t look like Kayla’s. It was harder to tell from a distance, but that person looked bigger than her. The helmet covered the face as well, making it even harder to identify them. Still, Nico thought he saw…

Well, it was worth a try.

“You know,” he called out, loud enough for them to hear, “falling from that far up a tree can be pretty deadly, and I’ve been told that death isn’t a very healthy lifestyle choice.”

He thought he’d gotten it all wrong when the seconds stretched, but then a familiar voice answered, “So is hiding in the shadows after you’ve just recovered from nearly fading into them. I’d say we’re even, Death Boy.”

A smile tugged at Nico’s lips. “Thought you hurt your arm in practice today. How’d you climb up there?”

“Jason.”

“Ah, should’ve figured. Well, pity he’s not here to help you down.”

“Don’t take another step,” an arrow perched in front of Nico’s feet again. Nico was surprised, because he hadn’t even realized that he’d come out from behind the tree.

Still, he chuckled. “ _That’s_ what you call you sucking at archery?”

Will didn’t answer, so Nico started thinking of a plan: how could he take Will from there without making him fall to his possible death?

The idea came to him quickly and his smile turned into a smirk.

He stepped back into the tree’s shadow and took a deep breath, sheathing his sword. Then he jumped into the darkness, coming up next to Will on the tree branch. The son of Apollo was so surprised that he yelped and jumped a good foot in the air, trying to hold onto the trunk for balance. It didn’t work, though, since his hands were full, with a bow and an arrow, and Will lost his footing. Instinctively, Nico reached out and grabbed his arm. He was pulled down, and he reached out his other arm to hold on tight to Will as they fell. When they passed a shadow, he transported them back to his original hiding spot, on his side of the stream.

Will fell on his back with a grunt while Nico fell on top of him, still holding onto him for dear life. The bow and the quiver fell to the floor next to them. Adrenaline was coursing through his body, his breath uneven and his heart beating out of his chest. The wave of tiredness came over him, as it did whenever he shadow-traveled, and he might have blacked out for a few seconds.

He came to with two hands trying to take off his helmet. He could tell he was still on top of Will, his head dead on his chest. Then he tuned in Will’s voice saying, “Nico? Nico. Hey. Wake up. Nico? I have to– You weren’t supposed to do two jumps on a roll like that yet. Nico?”

His voice was almost frantic, worried. Nico managed to raise his head and battle Will’s hands away from his helmet. Then, and only then, did he notice the position they were in. With both his knees on the ground – _ohmygods,_ _straddling? That was straddling_ –, he had enough footing to put his hands down as well and push himself up a little.

Woah, his head was still spinning. Okay.

“Nico?” Will’s hands came up to the sides of his helmet again, ready to pull it off.

Nico couldn’t have that, because then he’d see how much he was blushing, so he took Will’s wrists and forced them on the ground. Now he had enough leverage to lift his chest and put enough distance between them so they could look at each other. He could only see blue, worried eyes scanning his face and lips forming words that he wasn’t listening to.

“I got you,” Nico interrupted whatever he’d been saying. “Which makes you a prisoner.”

Will stared up at him. “Wait, that’s–”

“I’m taking you to prison now.”

At that, Will’s eyes squared up. “I’m _not_ your prisoner.”

In a swift move, Will moved one of his arms over his head and to the side at the same time that he thrusted his hips, shifting Nico’s balance enough that he managed to flip them. He took advantage of the element of surprise to free his hands and hold _Nico’s_ wrists against the hard ground.

“Think I’ll arrest _you_ ,” Will said, confidently.

 _Not a chance_ , Nico thought. Will had made the mistake of leaving his legs mostly free as he knelt between them, so Nico put one foot on each of the other boy’s hips and kicked with all his might. Will fell to the side and Nico was quick to climb over him, immobilizing him with a knee to the chest and taking out a dagger to hold against his neck.

He was going to say something cheeky, like _How about now?_ or _No, think I’ll arrest you anyway_ , but his voice died in his throat at their proximity. The armors and helmets made it feel less personal, and maybe that was the only reason why Nico didn’t fully panic and just stared instead.

“Well,” Will finally said after seconds? Minutes? Hours? “Suppose you just sliced my throat open, right?” His voice was hoarse, as if Nico had actually hurt his vocal cords or something.

“Yeah.” Nico’s voice wasn’t much better.

“So,” he breathed out a little heavily and Nico noticed that he was putting a lot of pressure on his chest. “Prison?”

Nico considered him. “If you behave.”

After sending Will one last warning glare, Nico grabbed his arm to pull him up with him. He kept the dagger pointed to his throat just as a precaution, then made Will grab his bow and quiver and give them to him.

He led them farther into the woods until he spotted Cecil, who seemed surprised to see them. Unceremoniously, Nico pushed Will forward and held out his weapons. “Take him to prison and store these away. I’ve got to go back to the stream.”

“Aw, you’re not taking me yourself?” Will turned around and started walking backwards toward the Hermes camper, looking at Nico.

Cecil coughed and muttered something that sounded like, _You’d like that_.

Will’s smile stayed in place, although it looked forced now, and he kept addressing Nico. “You sure about letting another person finish the job? You know how Hermes kids are. Can’t trust ‘em farther ‘n you can throw ‘em,” he brought out his accent with a mischievous smirk.

“I don’t trust _you_ ,” Nico pointed the dagger at him and dropped the bow and quiver.

It suddenly became a little too much for him. The last couple of minutes were catching up to him, plus the fucking accent and the damned smile – it was too much. Without waiting for another teasing comment, Nico turned and ran back to the stream, immediately finding trouble that he had to deal with.

At least it took his mind off of all that physical contact.

* * *

Campfire singalongs weren’t his thing. After dinner, Nico mostly wanted to enjoy some time alone in the dark, but he was usually dragged to the amphitheater anyway. Tonight, Jason had veered him in that direction.

“We’re probably just looking at it the wrong way,” Nico said as he watched the flames. “He’ll turn up when we least expect.”

Jason nodded absentmindedly. “I just… I feel like I can’t relax without knowing where he is. It’s so frustrating.”

“I didn’t feel him die again, so there’s that.”

His friend grunted in response. His attention was elsewhere, though: Piper, arguing about the benefits of marshmallows in a diet to her few siblings who were still around. Nico followed his gaze and considered her as well. She usually hid her pain well, but he could tell that she was tense and worried about Leo’s whereabouts.

“So,” Nico said, “California?”

“Yeah,” Jason sighed. “Chiron’s forcing us to go to school. It’ll be good to be back home, though. I’d invite you to come with, but…” He broke his gaze from Piper and smirked at Nico. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way.”

Nico frowned. “In the way? Of what?”

Jason pointed with his head to the campers a few feet away. The Apollo, Demeter, and Nike cabins were huddled together around something that Nico couldn’t see. Then Will seemed to feel his gaze and looked up, a bright smile lighting up his face as soon as their eyes met. He said something to the person next to him and pushed past everyone to stand in front of the pair.

“Hey,” he addressed Nico. “I’m fixin’ to make some s’mores, d’jeet’jet?”

The first part of the sentence Nico understood just fine. In those two months, he’d realized that when Will said he was _fixing to_ do something, it meant that he was _about to_ do it. However, he couldn’t make out the other words.

“Sorry?”

Will’s smile didn’t waver. “D’you eat yet? We’re making s’mores. I can make you one, if you’d like.”

Before Nico could form a sentence – wow, that smile was really distracting –, Jason exclaimed, “He’d love one! Yeah! Hey, man, why don’t you go over there to help him?” he said to Nico. “Piper’s waving me over.”

Piper wasn’t waving Jason over. Piper was engrossed in a conversation with Lou Ellen and hadn’t looked their way in a while. Piper was, in fact, quite surprised when Jason came up next to her, snaking an arm around her shoulders, and stole her marshmallow.

Nico and Will watched the exchange in silence. While Nico sighed, annoyed for some reason he couldn’t pinpoint, Will turned his smile back to him and raised his eyebrows. “So? Promise to put a lot of chocolate in yours.”

A hand stretched out in front of Nico and he stared at it.

“It’s dessert,” Will insisted.

“I already had dessert.”

“Second dessert.”

“I don’t think that’s a thing.”

Will then rolled his eyes and grabbed one of Nico’s hands. “Just– Come enjoy some s’mores with me, okay?”

Nico wanted to. He liked Will’s company more than he probably should and found himself yearning for it. Granted, he didn’t have to beg for it. It was easy getting Will’s attention, as though it was already on Nico before he even had to ask. He didn’t have it in him to say no and be grumpy, which was new for him. All of this new for him.

He missed Will’s hand as soon as he dropped his when they reached the group. It was smaller now, since some people were roasting their marshmallows on the fire.

Austin, who held the precious bag of marshmallows, narrowed his eyes at Will. “I’m vetoing you.”

“Wha– Why?”

“Only two, and that’s final.”

“Oh, c’mon! I promise I won’t try to put ‘em _all_ in my mouth at once. Again.”

“Two for each. That’s my final offer.”

“He’s just being whiny,” Nico surprised himself by speaking and taking the offered marshmallows. “It’ll pass. Thanks.”

With a huff, Will grabbed them two twigs, the chocolate, and the crackers and gestured for Nico to follow him. They took a seat on the ground near the fire and were soon roasting the fluffy marshmallows.

They were sitting very close, Nico noted, and he wasn’t sure whose fault it was. He sat crisscross, his elbows on his knees, while Will had one leg bended on the floor and the other vertically, one forearm on his higher knee, the twig on the other hand. His body was slightly turned in Nico’s direction as well as the fire’s, with his lower knee touching Nico’s thigh.

They roasted in silence, listening to one Apollo camper singing softly.

Nico wanted to tell him. It had been almost a week since the capture of the flag incident and Cecil’s revelation. Six days of anxiety and overanalyzing Will’s every word and move to try and gauge whether he returned Nico’s feelings or if he was just super-friendly. As much as he didn’t want to have his heart broken again – last time had lasted years and had been more than enough –, he felt this… vibe? He didn’t know how to explain it. It was a feeling that maybe he wouldn’t screw everything up by confessing.

But there was still the possibility of screwing everything up by confessing, so he held back. Specially now, with so few people around the campfire to make background noise and so little privacy. The longer he spent _right next to_ Will and still barely touching, the more he wanted to, like… cuddle up to him? Or something. But he had to settle for the little touches for the moment.

Then Will spoke softly, “You should put the chocolate on the crackers, get them ready. Here, I’ll hold yours,” he reached for Nico’s twig and took it from him as if it were the most natural motion in the world.

Without his twig, Nico was left with doing what Will said. He cleared his throat to speak. “I still don’t think it’s a good idea to put two marshmallows at once.”

Will threw him a playful exasperated look and focused back on the said marshmallows. They were done very soon after and the boys made a complete mess to put the s’mores together. It involved a lot of chuckles and dripping chocolate and brushes of fingers, but they got it done.

Nico watched as Will struggled to take the first bite, marshmallow dripping down the corners of his mouth. “This can’t be healthy.”

His face was a complete mess, but Will tried to smile around the stickiness he was chewing. “It’s healthy to have fun!”

Nico kept on watching him, shaking his head. He noticed his own lips curling up. “You’re ridiculous.”

What he actually meant was _adorable, gorgeous, dreamy_ , and Will must have caught on to one of those hidden meanings, because he blushed and tried to hide his smile. In order not to make things weird, Nico dove into his own s’mores, making an even bigger mess.

It took them a while to finish eating. When they did, their hands were sticky and dirty. There were no napkins around, so they did their best to lick off their own fingers. Nico saw Will’s eyes drop to his lips numerous times, and he couldn’t say he didn’t do the exact same thing.

Will choked on a chuckle. “Alright, don’t panic.”

Immediately, Nico wanted to panic. “What?”

“It’s just some marshmallow. Here…” Will turned his body completely toward Nico, his leg dragging on the floor until his knee was next to Nico’s hip and his ankle by Nico’s knee. His hands went up to a strand of Nico’s dark hair, trying to take out the white, sticky food from it. He finished and drew back his hands, the side of one of them lightly brushing Nico’s cheek.

It was like Nico couldn’t breathe. He was so close, yet not close enough. Those blue eyes were drawing him in. Those freckles were taunting him. Those lips still had chocolate on them and it was pure torture.

Nico’s throat was dry. “D’you wanna…” his voice cracked, so he swallowed and tried again. “D’you wanna walk me back to my cabin?”

It was the best plan he could come up with. He had to say something, because this was becoming ridiculous. He couldn’t handle the tension anymore. If he did it in his cabin, then at least he could kick him out and slam the door in case everything went wrong, and he would already be in his safe space to wallow and possibly cry.

“Yeah, sure,” Will muttered.

It was a few hesitant seconds before they got up, saying a general goodnight and ignoring the sniggers. Nico most _definitely_ ignored Piper’s wink and Jason’s smile.

The walk was tense, or maybe it was just Nico’s heart beating in his ears. He wanted to start a conversation and bring back their easy banter, to calm himself down, but a) he couldn’t think of anything to say and b) he was hyperaware and not aware at the same time, meaning that he might jump at a touch but not hear a word of what someone might say.

When they passed Euros Creek and approached the cabins’ area, Nico felt Will’s hand bump into his. It was light enough that it could have been an accident, since they were walking so close, but then it happened again and Will’s hand didn’t leave. It moved with his as they walked, a gentle pressure.

Then Will began to move his fingers. At first, it was light brushes against his own fingers and knuckles, each sending a shock through his arm and making his heart skip a beat. Slowly, Will moved his hand back a little and nearly slid it into his so his fingertips could touch Nico’s palm in the same pattern. They traced Nico’s fingers, weaving in and out of them, in and out, stroking, tickling, caressing, but never holding. It was so fucking distracting that Nico almost walked right past his cabin.

(Oh, and Hestia was sitting by the hearth, as usual, and she raised her eyebrows at him in a silent question. Nico shook his head discretely.)

Nico’s pinky and ring fingers were curled around Will’s index and middle ones as they climbed the porch. Nico opened the door and walked inside, pulling the son of Apollo with him so they could have some privacy. He led them to the middle of the cabin before he had the guts to turn around and face him. Their fingers didn’t let go of each other, simply readjusted to the turn of Nico’s hand.

A thousand things to say ran through his head, but, at the same time, his mind was blank. After a few agonizing seconds, he found himself whispering the truth. “I don’t know how to do this.”

Will was close, almost too close, and he wasn’t smiling anymore. His eyes were hooded. He looked out of breath. “I don’t either.”

Nico swallowed and forced himself to say it, “But I like you.”

Was it his impression or was Will getting closer as his voice got lower? “I like you, too. If I wasn’t obvious enough.”

“You’re… absolutely ridiculous.”

That was the last thing he managed to breathe out before Will’s lips curled up and were suddenly as close as they could get. A magnet pulled him forward to meet him in the middle.

Their lips pressed against each other for a moment and relaxed back. Then he felt Will inhaling before diving back in. Automatically, Nico let his mouth fall open a little, capturing Will’s upper lip as the other boy captured his bottom one. Another press and retreat, then diving back in. This time, a warm hand came up to Nico’s jaw and Will used it as leverage to press their lips with more force.

Nico had never asked anyone about their first kiss experience, so he didn’t know what to expect. He’d seen people kiss, mostly pecks here and there and mostly Percy and Annabeth, which he tried to suppress, but he didn’t know it could make him feel like _this_ – like there wasn’t enough air, like his hands couldn’t stop shaking, like his heart was growing and occupying all of his chest. And he hadn’t expected all of those things to feel _good_.

He didn’t know it’d be like a dance either. Brush lips, lock lips, press, unlock, rinse, and repeat. Slight change of angle. Remember to breathe through your nose. Get completely addicted and become unable to stop going for it again, and _again, and again, and again_.

And one more time.

Then he noticed his hand on Will’s arm, their other hands still interlocked.

He was really running out of air, even though he was breathing.

He felt too hot.

He didn’t want to stop. Didn’t know if he even could. Brush, lock, press, brush, press, breathe, rinse, repeat.

Touch foreheads. Breathe.

Breathe.

A thumb was caressing his cheek, and Nico thought he might die right there and then. Their noses fit perfectly together next to each other. It was harder to breathe that way, but neither had the strength to pull back.

He felt Will’s lips turning into a smile, which pulled one from himself. Will gave him another peck then, as if he couldn’t help himself, and Nico completely understood the urge.

Eyelashes brushed against his closed eyelids and Nico opened his eyes to meet those blue ones. He was nervous. He couldn’t remember being so nervous since… well, since he was trying to impress Percy and would melt at a single look. Now he was melting again, but it felt much better than before.

Nico felt his hand shaking in Will’s and moved to hold it tighter to cover some of it. Will squeezed back and gave him another smile. “Don’t worry. I’m also as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”

It was so absurd, so Texan, so _Will_ , that a chuckle got past Nico’s lips and, before he knew it, he was laughing softly. Their faces weren’t so close anymore. Will’s hand on his face slipped to rest on his shoulder, touching his neck.

“My _gods_ , you’re _ridiculous_ ,” Nico said.

Will kept on smiling brighter than the sun. “It got you laughin’, didn’t it?”

 _Ridiculous_ , Nico thought again. Why did he like it so much, though? Why was his heart soaring right now? Why did he want to kiss him again?

As if reading his thoughts, Will put his hand back on his cheek, muttered a “C’mere,” and pulled him in for another round.

Between kisses, he whispered, “Your laugh is beautiful,” effectively melting Nico’s insides. He wanted to whisper back, You’re _beautiful_ , but he seemed to have exhausted his quota of courage for the day.

“Sooo…” Will said, smile _still_ in place, hand _still_ on his cheek, eyes _still_ sparkling. “What activity d’you have to change to come to wrestling class with me tomorrow at eight?”

“Wrestling?” Nico repeated. His brain was slow. “What, are you mad because you lost to me last week and got made prisoner?”

“That has absolutely nothing to do with it.”

“Do you _want_ to be chucked on the floor again?”

He blushed. “I didn’t say that.”

“In front of your siblings?” Then Nico paused. “With all your siblings around.”

Will picked up on his concern. “Hey, no, c’mon, please? They wouldn’t mind. Besides, there’s only three of them.”

“So I’d make it uneven.”

“There’s the instructor. Please?” Will pulled out the big guns with the puppy face. “You’re better than me and I wanna practice with you. Please, please, please.”

He was still blushing as he said that, and Nico might have been able to pick up on why if his head wasn’t so all over the place. Instead, he gave in to the puppy eyes, which he never thought he would, and sighed, “Fine.”

The Smile – which now deserved to be addressed to in capital letters – got _even bigger_. Seriously, Nico was worried that Will might pull a muscle. It couldn’t be normal. It was beautiful, though, that smile. That mouth, puffy in a way it wasn’t before. Those lips, redder now and looking softer and more inviting the longer he stared at them.

Then, somehow, they were kissing again. Will’s hand left his and joined his other one in cupping his cheeks, so now Nico’s face was held between his palms. It felt so warm, so safe, so _intimate_. Nico’s heart couldn’t take much more of it.

His hand was still touching Will’s arm, but now he had a free hand that he didn’t know what to do with. He had to focus on kissing, though, so it took him a while to move it. He just moved it up and forward until he found the material of Will’s shirt and grabbed it lightly to anchor himself.

Will pulled back slowly and looked at him – smiling, eyes sparkling, the whole shebang –, effectively taking Nico’s breath away with how handsome he looked.

“Can I…” Will started then stopped himself. He… giggled? And tried again. “Can I come by in the morning? Walk you to breakfast?”

It ticked something in Nico’s survival instinct. Walking to breakfast with him would mean he would have to leave his siblings and let Kayla take over, which was something he couldn’t do discretely. That was a problem in Nico’s book. The teasing. The everybody knowing so soon. The sniggers, the comments, the looks.

“Nico, stop panicking. It’s okay.”

He frowned and pulled away a little, so Will’s hands fell from his face. Then Will seemed to realize he’d said the wrong thing and his eyes widened. “I mean, I… We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Nico wanted to, that was the problem. He wanted to fucking hold his hand and walk up to the mess hall, maybe break the rules and sit at his table instead of alone. He wanted people like Valentina Diaz to know that Will wasn’t available, not even to look at. But something was wrong with him. He couldn’t bring himself to relax and accept the invitation.

“I hate gossip around camp,” Nico murmured. “It’s none of their business.”

Will scrunched up his face and it was almost enough to disperse Nico’s sudden bad mood. “Don’t think we can avoid it. But… you don’t wanna…?”

“No, I didn’t…” Nico grunted, frustrated, and rubbed his face. “I didn’t say that.”

Will looked worried now. Nico needed to bring back The Smile quickly, because this gloomy expression didn’t look right on Will’s face at all. It was hard to explain what he wanted to say, though.

“I _want_ to,” Nico said, deciding to do it in parts as he tried to make sense of it. “Spend time with you. Do… _this_.”

“Date?”

“I just…” he huffed. “I can’t…” he made an unclear gesture.

Will watched him, trying to keep up with what he was saying and fill in the blanks. His face was still scrunched up adorably. “Nico, you know that… I mean, I don’t know how it was back in your time. Probably a crime. But nobody at camp would ever judge you for it. Trust me, I’ve been there. I’m from _Texas_ , even if Austin is progressive enough, it’s still… Texas. But at camp – It’s okay. And I’d strike an arrow in the face of anyone who’s not okay with it, anyway.”

It was reassuring enough, but Nico was still brought up as a Catholic in 1930s Italy. His brain could short-circuit at any moment.

“D’you have any idea how gay Greek Mythology is?” Will gave him a small smile. “Seriously, d’you read any of it?”

“Yes, Will, I in fact read about the monsters who wanna kill us.”

“So you’ve noticed. I’m actually surprised there aren’t so many of us at camp. I’ve been talking to Chiron and trying to build a safe space for anyone who might need it, because I know there’re still assholes out there, but I want here to be safe. We’ve so much to worry about already.”

Nico pursed his lips. “You don’t understand. I was… Cupid, he… I wasn’t _ready_ , okay? And Jason was _right there_ , and I had to… He _forced_ me, okay? I wasn’t ready.”

There were a couple beats of silence before Will spoke. “Cupid?”

Right. He hadn’t told that story to anyone, and Jason had kept his mouth faithfully shut. Now he felt an urge to talk about it, pour out all the anger and betrayal he’d felt. So he did. He told Will about what happened, about how they needed the scepter, about how Cupid had physically and psychologically hit him, over and over, until he ripped the confession from him.

At the end of it, Will looked a mix of emotions, but mad seemed to be the biggest one. “I can’t believe he did that to you.”

“Yeah, well, he _did_. He’s not some… cute angel with heart arrows that just wants people to be in love and happy. He’s a fucking psycho and I _hate_ him.”

Will stopped the various motions of Nico’s hands by taking them in his own. The corner of his lips twitched. “You know you move your hands a lot when you’re talking about something important.”

Nico didn’t see how that was relevant to anything he’d just said, but the thumbs caressing his knuckles were soothing, so he didn’t remove his hands abruptly like he might have a few weeks ago.

“It’s okay that you need time. I didn’t know,” Will then said in a more serious tone. “I’m sorry, I… You can set the pace. I’ll just follow your lead.”

Slowing coming down from his anger, Nico nodded, distracted by the caresses.

“Didn’t know I had such big competition, though, wow,” Will sighed, looking down to play with their fingers.

With a frown, Nico said, “What, Percy?”

“I mean, yeah. Have you _seen_ him?”

“He’s not competition,” Nico’s voice dropped and he got shy all of a sudden. “He’s not my type, anyway.”

“Hmm, I don’t know. It’s only been two months. I feel pretty threatened.”

“Don’t,” Nico met his eyes to make sure the message got through. “And I mean it. I’m not… I don’t like him anymore.” With a deep breath to gather his courage, he took a step closer, fully intertwining their hands. “As long as you promise not to show up with the sun, you can come get me for breakfast.”

Will looked unsure. “Nico, if you’re not comfortable–”

“I’m comfortable walking with you.”

Will searched his eyes for double confirmation. When he found it, he smiled, _finally_ , and a wave of relief rushed through Nico. He realized that all he wanted to do was make him smile.

“Okay,” Will muttered in a low voice, almost a whisper.

“Okay,” Nico responded in likeness.

For a moment, nothing happened. They just looked at each other. Then Will’s eyes slipped to Nico’s lips and stayed there as he leaned his head down a little bit to make up for the two-inch height difference. Nico pushed forward to meet him.

The kisses were still sweet, now slower. Gentle brushes of lips, press down, let your mouth fall open, meet him again, breathe, breathe, _breathe_. His whole body temperature rose. This was so addictive.

There were interrupted by the sound of voices getting closer. Nico pulled back to leaned to the side to look beyond the open door, and Will turned to do the same. He was quick to turn back to Nico, though. “I should probably get going.”

“Yeah.”

“See you in the morning?”

Nico felt a smile tugging at his lips. “Yeah.”

“Okay,” Will breathed out.

They hesitated, unsure of what to do. Then Will let go of one of his hands to brush the backs of his fingers on Nico’s cheek. He gave him one more kiss, lingering, letting their lips fall apart slowly.

With a bashful smile, Will let go of him completely and walked to the door, pausing one last time to give him a warm smile before he left. Nico wanted to watch him walk to his cabin, but found himself closing the door and leaning his forehead against it.

He told his heart to _calm down_. He told his lungs to _breathe_. He told his hands to _stop shaking_. It was too much. He wasn’t used to feeling so many good emotions at once and he didn’t think he knew how to deal with them properly. The one thought that kept circling in his head was that Will returned his feelings and they were… well, _something_. They’d kissed, repeatedly. Will’s hands were so warm, he wanted them to touch him again and again and again. And that _smile_.

Nico hid his own smile, not knowing why, since he was alone. He pushed away his nerves and worries and allowed himself to _feel_ the good emotion instead of waiting for it to be overtaken. For the first time, he couldn’t wait to be woken up before 8am.


End file.
